Ayakashi Ghost Guild: Esmond's story
by AnimeInspired
Summary: Esmond returns home from school to find out he has become a Ghost Agent. He would love to refuse the position, but after meeting his first daemon, he can't bring himself to part ways with her. (This fan fiction does change a few things about Ayakashi: Ghost Guild, and I intend for it to be rather long. If you don't like that aspect of this fan fiction, then I am sorry.)


**Chapter 1**

_A new ghost agent._

"Yo." A voice called out to Esmond. It was a voice he didn't recognise. He turned his head to look through the living room door he was just about to pass.

A woman, maybe in her early twenties, was sitting in one of the chairs. She had black hair in a ponytail with a pink ribbon supporting the hairstyle. Her pink jacket being undone meant a large amount of her body was revealed, but at least she had the decency to cover up her chest with something. A piece of black cloth with pink petals on it, to be precise.

But this wasn't the time for Esmond to take interest in the small details, because right beside the woman was a weapon. Judging from the shape, it was a sword. He didn't know if it was real or not, but he had to assume it was due to the situation he thought he was in.

"Who are you?" Esmond asked cautiously.

"Oh, right. I probably shouldn't of invited myself in while the master of the house was out." The woman said as she grabbed her weapon and stood up.

She began to walk towards Esmond. He didn't like the fact that she was carrying her weapon, so he backed away.

"Hm? No need to be so worried, I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, if anyone hurts you..." She grabbed the hilt of her weapon. "...I'll kill them." The woman added, looking past Esmond angrily as if someone was there.

"Huh?" Esmond became more confused about the situation every time the woman spoke.

He had no reason to trust her yet, but he felt like he could. He thought it would be a good idea to get her to cooperate.

"All right, can you put your weapon down first." Esmond suggested as he looked over at the chair where the woman was sitting moments before.

"If that is what you want me to do, then I will oblige." She replied. The woman turned around and placed her weapon on the chair then returned to face Esmond.

To ensure that the boy trusted her, she started moving as far away from the weapon as possible without giving him a reason to be cautious.

He couldn't help feeling like that was to easy.

"So, who are you and what are you doing in my house?" Esmond questioned the suspicious person.

The woman reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a letter. She looked it over, as if confirming who it belonged to, and handed it to Esmond.

"As of today, you are a ghost agent. My name is Riya Amagasaki and I'll be serving you from now on, Master." Riya told Esmond, as she bowed down.

Esmond was utterly confused, but didn't say anything. He turned his attention to the letter that was handed to him, hoping it would explain the current situation.

He was fairly shocked at what he was reading. The part talking about Daemons was the part he found most interesting.

It said that Divina were Daemon's like Gods, heroes of the past and even Angels. Apparently they are extremely protective and loyal towards their Master. Esmond was guessing that Riya fit into this category due to the way she acted earlier. Divina were the owners of light energy.

Anima were objects, mostly weapons, that had been embodied. According to the letter, Anima Daemons are supposedly Tsukumogami, which are objects that are abandoned for a long time, forming a soul. The examples written in the letter were a katana and pistol.

Phantom Daemons come into existence when they experience negative feelings towards something. This seemed to include seeking revenge or causing destruction. According to the letter, they were harbouring dark energy and appeared as beasts and demons. Phantoms could even be witches.

After reading the letter Esmond had a rough idea of what was happening, although it was somewhat hard to believe. What he was definitely able to figure out was that Riya was not hostile. This calmed him greatly.

Esmond remembered that on his way home he had noticed something odd.

"Um, would this explain why I've been seeing strange things recently?" Esmond asked, looking away from the letter and at Riya.

Now that all the tension had gone, he finally got a good look at Riya. He now noticed just how long her hair was as it swayed below the back of her knees. She was wearing a lengthy black skirt, and when Esmond looked up he came into contact with her golden eyes.

"That depends, what were these 'strange things'?" Riya answered with a question.

"Well, a girl with rabbit ears kept calling out the name 'Kaguya Hime'. If I remember correctly she had a pink eye, with the other eye being covered by her white hair. As I passed her I noticed that she had a small tail." Esmond stated, as he recalled his trip home.

"That sounds like Lunar Hare. She is the same as me, a Daemon. Some Daemons are free like her and Kaguya, but most of us were summoned and have to obey the orders of a master." Riya informed her new Master.

"The letter said you will serve me, a ghost agent. What if I refuse to be a ghost agent?" Esmond asked curiously. He didn't really feel like dealing with this agent business.

"Well, it is never really explained. Once the Ghost Guild has picked someone to become a ghost agent, you are expected to play your role." Riya disclosed as she sat back down.

"What will you do if I refuse to become a ghost agent?" Esmond inquired.

"I decided to serve you out of my own free will, so I will hang around here even if you don't become a ghost agent."

"Well I don't mind, there are plenty of spare rooms. I'm the only person who lives here after all." Esmond told her.

"You really won't become a ghost agent?" Riya questioned, sounding disappointed.

She had gone through all the trouble of hand picking a Master, only for him to turn down the position.

After listening to her ask, and questioning himself about it, he came up with his answer. "If it starts to interest me, then I will become one."

"That sounds like a good compromise." Riya said, nodding happily. "You accepted the existence of Daemons and the Ghost Guild rather quickly though Master."

"It's hard to deny what's right in front of me." Esmond replied. "Also don't call me 'Master'. It sounds weird to be called something like that. My names Esmond."

"Well all right, if that is what you want Esmond." Riya felt weird calling her Master by his name.

"I'm going to get changed out of my school uniform."

Esmond made his way upstairs to do just that, leaving Riya alone downstairs. Riya waited patiently for her Master to come back down.

She had been glancing over at a clock in the living room of Esmond's house constantly ever since he walked upstairs. He had only been gone for a few minutes, but she became restless fast. She really wasn't good at waiting.

Trying to distract herself and give herself something to do, she started thinking about various things.

"Esmond said this house has many spare rooms, but I wonder how many..." Riya spoke her thoughts. As she spoke this she began to drift into a deep thought.

"Enough." Esmond stated.

Riya, who had become lost in thought, jumped up in shock. "Don't scare me like that Master!"

Riya looked over towards Esmond, and was surprised by his appearance. He mustn't of cared for how he looked because his blonde hair was still scruffy. He had changed his school uniform out for some comfortable and warm clothing. Because it was early December it was cold outside so Esmond's choice of coat, scarf and gloves seemed normal.

She couldn't help but think he looked cute with his brown eyes peering over his huge scarf. With the huge coat he was wearing, her Master almost looked like a teddy bear.

Esmond gazed in Riya's direction. "I thought I asked you to call me by my name." He mentioned.

"Oh right, sorry Esmond. Are you going out?" Riya wondered, assuming he was because of what he was wearing.

"Yeah, with someone else staying here we'll need more food." Confirmed Esmond while he walked to the front door.

He began to put his shoes on when he noticed Riya walking towards him. He didn't feel like telling her to stay behind. Esmond felt like it would be a bad idea for her to bring her weapon though.

"I doubt we will be attacked so why bring your weapon?" Esmond asked when he had finished getting everything ready to go.

"Sometimes we are called Ghosts, not Daemons. Normal people can only see us if we reveal ourselves to them. Therefore, no one will see the weapon." Riya explained.

That did make sense to Esmond. He could become a ghost agent, and was requested to be an agent by the Ghost Guild. Esmond assumed it was mostly preferences. Some people liked to call them Daemons, while others preferred Ghosts.

"So no one else will be able to see you? It might look like I'm talking to myself then." Esmond remarked.

"I should be able to conceal only my weapon. I don't like concealing myself much." Riya replied to her Master with a smile.

Esmond began to get embarrassed and turned his face away. A mere smile from her could make him blush.

He began to think of something to change the subject. "It's cold outside and you're going out like that?" He asked.

"If I wore anything bulky to keep me warm I wouldn't be able to protect you, Esmond."

Riya pointed out, but buttoned her jacket up anyway.

Esmond and Riya both left the house and began walking to town.

It had been snowing since earlier that afternoon. This meant that the snow had built up to the point where their feet disappeared into it.

Riya looked back as they left the house. She hadn't noticed it before because she was too excited about meeting Esmond, but his home was huge. It looked more like a mansion that could house a couple dozen people.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Riya noticed that something was off. No one was around. It was understandable that no one would be out in the cold, but not a single car had passed them as they walked along a main road, close to the shop. There was not a single sound being made either.

"Esmond, whatever you do, don't leave my side." Riya demanded, grabbing the hilt of her sword with her right hand.

A thick fog began to appear, restricting the vision of both Esmond and Riya to roughly ten metres in all directions. Riya's eyes darted around, trying to figure out where the enemy will attack from.

"What's wrong?"

Before any more words could be spoken, something rushed towards Esmond. Riya unsheathed her katana and swung vertically, slicing the object in two. She looked back to see the object she had cut in two crash into a wall and shatter.

"Ice." She made a quick observation.

For the brief second Riya saw the ice, its original size was the length and width of a child's arm.

Several more shards of ice came their way from multiple directions at the same time. Unable to see a way to deflect all of them, Riya grabbed Esmond by his coat and threw him as high as she could. She then stuck her katana in the ground, jumped on the hilt and jumped once more.

The icicles flew straight into the hilt of the katana, but hit neither Riya nor Esmond.

Riya had thrown Esmond higher than she had anticipated. A fall from the height he was at would result in a broken bone or two.

So, once she had landed, she stretched her arms out. Esmond landed in her arms, and Riya quickly tried to think of a cool one-liner as she held him. Unfortunately she wasn't fast enough, as another volley of icicles was fired at them.

Riya moved her right hand towards the hilt of her weapon as she crouched to minimize the area she had to defend. Esmond was close to lying on the ground. She managed to reach her sword and pull it out of the ground just in time to hit the first icicle.

Staying in a crouched position and supporting Esmond's body with her left arm, Riya managed to deflect six icicles and stopped them from hitting her Master. Unfortunately the seventh ice shard got past her defence and would of hit Esmond if she hadn't covered his body with her own. The shard buried itself into her side, piercing her lung.

She flinched and let out a small cry. "Tch, looks like I'm a bit rusty." Riya told her Master.

Esmond could see the huge icicle sticking out of his Daemon's side while her blood started dripping onto him.

Due to the organ being pierced, a steady stream of blood exited Riya's mouth as blood filled her lungs.

Riya threw her katana on the floor and stood up with Esmond, who she was still supporting with her left arm despite the pain she was experiencing. She then grabbed the shard of ice lodged in her with both hands, and pulled.

"Riya, are you all right?!" Esmond asked, panicking.

He watched as his Daemon started pulling out the icicle embedded in her. She fell to her knees because of the unbearable pain, but refused to stop yanking on the ice.

At the end of Riya's struggle, she managed to pull out the blood-soaked icicle, but she almost passed out because of the pain. Esmond grabbed her left arm and pulled it over his shoulders to help support her.

Riya realized that Esmond didn't know the extent of the injury. She just needed to stop the enemy before she passed out.

Her breathing became heavier. "Ha, now we are about even."

"What do you mean?" Esmond asked, confused by Riya's comment.

"The enemy is weak now too. Surely you noticed. They had a great chance to attack, but didn't." Riya started to say.

Esmond was too busy worrying about Riya to realize it at first. Their opponent had indeed stopped attacking.

Once he was on the subject and thought about it, he realized the way the enemy attacked. The first barrage of ice was all in sync, and probably required a lot of effort to pull off, but was intended to either kill or weaken the target. However, both Esmond and Riya got through the first attack without a scratch.

Their opponent wasn't expecting them to be unharmed, so launched another attack, but wasn't able to ace it like the first.

"That look on your face says it all. You figured it out didn't you Esmond?" Riya sounded impressed. "You could win a battle of wits if you stayed focused."

"Thanks." Esmond didn't really think he had done much yet, but her words encouraged him.

He began to think about what Riya had said. If Riya was even with the enemy, would the enemy be in a state where they are unable to move too?

"Hey, I hate to ask this of you when you are injured, but I have an idea. Can you help me with it?" Esmond said, looking around.

Riya spat out the blood that had been building up in her mouth. "I'll do my best, Master."

"If you are weakened, naturally you try to attack from a position no one can see, right?" Esmond inquired.

"A blind spot. So you think we will get attacked from behind, huh?" Riya replied, turning around to check while she said this.

"No. I've been able to spot a silhouette in the fog. Last time I saw them, they were in front of us. My guess is our enemy will attack when we turn our backs." Esmond speculated.

"So they are in front of us, hidden by the fog." Riya agreed with what her Master was saying.

"Do you feel like charging at our enemy?"

"If it's what my Master wishes me to do, then I will." Riya declared while she took her arm off of Esmond's shoulder.

Esmond handed her his scarf to help stop the blood from gushing out of her side. It wasn't enough to stop the bleeding completely but it was something. He was still worried about the wounded Riya, but he decided to tell her the plan anyway.

He had no idea if his Daemon had noticed it, but the ice being thrown at them appeared to curve in various directions. This suggested that the ice shards were either being manipulated or they were similar to something like a homing missile. On top of that, the shards Riya had simply deflected fell to the ground. Looking around, none of the icicles were on the ground.

Riya's eyes widened as her Master told her this. "You noticed such small details. You just keep impressing me Esmond."

"Well, I had a great view from the air." He stated in a stern voice, looking at his Daemon.

Icicles that hadn't been shattered just disappeared, so this proved that they were being manipulated and moving back to the creator. The ice that Riya had pulled out of her side wasn't going anywhere though.

Esmond assumed that their opponent was able to control ice, but only ice. This meant that when another substance, like blood, got mixed in with the ice, it couldn't be controlled.

"I've never seen anything like this, except for in video games. What I've told you is all just a theory that makes sense to me." Esmond expressed to Riya.

"No, I think you are doing fine." Riya reassured him. "You are remaining extremely calm. It would appear as though not much can phase you." She continued.

Truth was, she hadn't noticed anything that her Master had. Maybe it was because she was so focused on protecting him. Either way, Esmond's ability to remain calm against something he had never seen or fought before was amazing.

Esmond told her the remainder of his plan. He was going to collect some of the snow that had Riya's blood on it. If he is attacked and reacts fast enough he should be able to stop the ice from touching him with the combination of the blood transferring over to the ice and him attempting to catch it.

This plan relied on perfect timing. If he was even a second slower to react once he is being attacked, the icicle might travel right through him. Of course, this part of the plan will only come into action if Esmond is actually attacked.

"OK Riya, whenever you're ready."

Riya didn't like the plan one bit, but she had to put faith in her Master.

She dug her foot deep into the snow, right under her katana, and kicked up. She grabbed the weapon with her left hand, because the wound on her side became worse whenever she stretched her right arm. Once she was prepared, she began to run forward, into the fog.

A few seconds after Riya had left Esmond's view, some commotion could be heard. Probably a clash between metal and ice.

Esmond bent down to the ground to grab as much of the blood-covered snow as possible. He just had to hope that there was enough, and that his idea was correct to begin with.

"Riya!" Esmond shouted as loud as he could.

In next to no time Riya had followed the voice of her Master, leading her right to him. She saw that he was holding some snow that had her blood on it. The plan was going fine right now.

As Riya came into view, so did the enemy. A small girl who looked like she was, at best, 13 years old who was wearing a white, sleeveless shirt with long, white gloves. Below that was a short, frilly, light blue skirt covered in what looked like frozen drops of water. White stockings could be seen beneath the skirt.

He could also see how her ability worked. She was creating ice shards within range of her hands. They appeared to be floating near her, she never actually came into contact with the ice. Floating around her wrists were miniature ice shards, so now Esmond could see that she could create ice at different sizes.

"So Daemons can even look like kids, huh." Esmond spoke to himself.

Maybe he was just being soft, but now that he had seen his opponent, he didn't want to harm her. The girl, on the other hand, didn't appear to care.

Once the girl had seen Esmond, she threw an icicle in his direction. Riya was unable to reach it in time, and the icicle flew straight towards him.

"Master!" Riya shouted.

His plan came into action now, because of the snow he was holding. He predicted the trajectory of the ice shard, crouched to improve his stability and attempted to grab the icicle.

It worked. He was able to grab the icicle in his hands, and the snow he was holding started to soak the ice with blood. His theory was correct.

The girl looked shocked that the icicle wasn't moving.

From Riya's point of view, it looked like the shard had pierced her Master. Even though this was the plan, and her Master had most likely caught the icicle, she was infuriated.

"You bitch!" Riya screamed, completely engulfed by anger.

The girl had no idea what was going on, but clearly looked shocked and scared. She had lost control of the icicle she sent at the boy standing near her, and was about to be killed.

Riya stopped thinking rationally and went all out against her enemy. Originally she didn't want to attack her opponent after finding out they were a child, but appearance didn't matter any more.

Riya's katana was about to be sent straight through the small girl's heart when...

"Riya, stop!" Esmond called out.

The sword stopped mere inches away from the girl.

"I'm fine, so don't kill her." Esmond ordered.

He threw the icicle to the ground and stood up. It was true, he appeared to have no injuries, or at least nothing major. He looked down to notice the icicle he grabbed had cut through his glove and scratched his hand.

"See? Just a scratch." Esmond stated as he showed the wound to his Daemon.

Riya was shocked at what her Master had done. "You caught it?"

"Yes and no. It was a mix between that girl losing control of the icicle and me stopping it with my hands." Esmond reported.

Riya could tell that he was extremely pleased with himself. In the next instant she fell to the ground, but managed to stay sitting up with what little strength she had left.

Esmond rushed over to her side. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Daemon's heal faster than humans, so don't worry about me." Riya looked over at her worried Master. "My lung has already healed, so I can breath fine now. Stop worrying."

She said this, but for some reason she was delighted that Esmond was worrying about her so much. Maybe she was enjoying the attention more than she should be.

"Hey Riya, your cheeks are turning red..." Esmond pointed out.

"A-anyway, what about the kid?" Riya blurted out, trying to change the subject.

They both looked over at the girl sitting next to them. She ran and hid behind Esmond.

"What?" Esmond asked, confused.

"That old lady is scary." Said the girl with tears flooding her eyes. "You are much kinder. You stopped her."

"O-old?! If I was a human I would only be twenty-three!" Riya yelled.

"If you was human." The girl retorted.

"You're lucky I'm still injured kid." Riya said through clenched teeth.

Esmond let out a sigh. "That's enough you two. So what were you doing attacking us?" Esmond asked the girl.

"This is my territory. You came here without permission."

"I take this path to get to the shop all the time." Esmond insisted.

"Master said I was useless. I was wondering about until I found this place. I like it here." The girl suddenly looked annoyed.

"So you're a Daemon too." Esmond said as he put his hand on the girls head. "How about coming along with me and Riya. I doubt it's nice being alone all the time."

"Really?" The girl sounded shocked.

"Why not? Esmond replied.

The girl already looked overjoyed. "Yay, a new Master! Oh. I'm Icicle."

Icicle sounded like an object to Esmond, not a name.

He was trying to figure out what kind of Daemon she was. She must be a Phantom because she appeared to accommodate hateful emotions towards her previous Master. Why else would she cling to what they said.

Esmond thought about it for a bit. He didn't really want to call Icicle by that name because, to him, it sounded wrong. He decided to come up with a name for her.

"Come on then, Cele."

"My name is Icicle. Not Cele." Icicle expressed her thoughts.

"It makes you sound like an object, but you're a person. You should have a proper name. Of course, if you don't like it then I can call you Icicle." Esmond told her.

"Smooth, Master." A short comment came from Riya. She couldn't help but feel annoyed that Esmond was paying attention to the kid.

"I like it!" Stated Cele, wrapping her arms around Esmond while she repeated her new name.

Seeing Cele clinging to her Master irritated Riya for some reason. She just passed it off as nothing though.

"You are far to adaptive, Master. You only heard about all this an hour ago and look at you." Riya said, after she thought about everything that had just happened.

"Well after being in this kind of situation, it seems like I can keep calm. I wouldn't of expected myself to act the way I did though." Esmond replied.

After the fight, Esmond's thoughts were in disarray. It took a bit of thinking to remember why they were out of the house in the first place. Food for Riya. Well, now it was for her and Cele.

"Riya, are you OK to keep walking? We still need to go to the shop after all." Esmond sounded concerned.

"Not really, sorry." Riya told him.

She was angering herself. Not only had she nearly failed to protect her Master on the first day of meeting him, but she was now useless until she recovered.

"I can go to the shop if Master wants!" Cele pointed out, with a smile on her face.

"If you don't mind, that would be a great help. Come home for now so I can get you a list of what to buy." Esmond told her.

Cele was clearly excited to be of use to someone again. She wouldn't stop jumping around.

Esmond knelt down next to Riya and picked her up.

"M-master?!" Riya wasn't expecting it, so she was surprised at first.

It was the same way she held him in the fight earlier. The princess carry. Riya couldn't contain her embarrassment and planted her face into Esmond's arm. Luckily his coat was thick enough to hide her.

"Consider this payback. Now you know how I felt when you held me like this." Esmond looked down and smiled. "I would either be badly injured or dead right now, so thanks."

"Don't mention it. It's my job." Riya said in a tremulous voice, muffled by her Master's coat.

Riya felt that whoever came up with the idea of carrying someone like this was a cruel person. There was nowhere to put her arms, except around Esmond. She kept telling herself that having her arms around Esmond was simply to stop her from falling. He seemed to be sturdier than she had thought, as carrying his Daemon didn't seem to phase him at all.

Esmond couldn't help but think that Riya was acting like an embarrassed teenager, even though she claimed to be twenty-three.

After a few minutes of walking he looked down to check on Riya, but he never expected her to be asleep. The fight must of really taken her strength away.

Right beside Esmond was Cele, cheerily skipping along while she held onto Riya's weapon.

After they had arrived at Esmond's house he realized that he had no way of unlocking the front door while Riya was in his arms.

"Hey Cele, have you ever used a key to unlock a door?" Esmond asked sceptically.

"What's a key?" Was the reply he got.

"OK, great start." He said in an kind tone. "In my left coat pocket should be the key to the door. Can you get it for me?"

After a few minutes of explaining things to Cele, the door was finally opened. She must of lived a rather sad life because she could fight fairly well, but struggled to unlock a door.

Once they were inside, Esmond told Cele to wait in the living room for him while he carried Riya into one of the spare rooms. She was still sleeping soundly.

After he had gotten her on the bed he removed his scarf that was tied around her injury. When she said Daemons heal quicker, she wasn't lying. The wound had practically vanished.

"Don't make your Master worry like that again." Esmond told her, even though she was still fast asleep.

He left a note on the bedside table. He wrote that when she woke up and was feeling OK, to come downstairs and grab something to eat. With that Esmond left the room and went downstairs.

As much as he wanted to get a wider range of food for them, he didn't trust Cele with handling the task.

"Shopping can wait until tomorrow I guess." Esmond sighed.

He decided to rest for now and cook something later, so he wandered into the living room. Cele was waiting for him, just like he had asked of her.

Esmond started to take off pieces of clothing he didn't need on, like his coat and shoes.

"Do you know what a TV is?" He questioned, even though he had a rough idea of what the answer would be.

"Nope."

Just as he expected. Esmond grabbed the remote and turned the TV on for Cele.

"W-what is this?!" She said, astonished.

Esmond sat down without saying anything. Carrying Riya for almost half an hour was tougher than he thought it would be.

As soon as he sat down, Cele jumped on him. "Master!"

"I'm worn out, but I don't mind you sitting on my lap if you stay calm." He told her in a gentle tone.

Esmond had no idea what she would enjoy watching, so he put one of the kid's channels on hoping it would keep her hypnotized.

He wondered whether the two Daemons that were now with him would be taken away if he refused to become a ghost agent. Riya had been badly injured protecting him and Cele struggled to complete a simple task. He really wanted to help Riya in fights so she didn't have to get hurt like that again and help Cele with learning about the world, so in that moment he decided to become a ghost agent.

While he thought about this, he drifted off to sleep. A few minutes later, as if falling asleep was contagious, Cele had cuddled up to her Master and fallen asleep.


End file.
